Howard Shane | How Teaching at Belchertown State School Changed My Life

Content Warning: In today’s episode, we will discuss depictions of the living conditions of institutions for people with disabilities in the 1960s and certain attitudes about people with disabilities that worked there.

Today on the podcast, we talk to Howard Shane, author of the book Unsilenced, associate professional at the Harvard Medical School, and the Director of the Autism Language Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

We talk about what it was like to work at Belchertown State School, an institution for people with disabilities, in the 1960s. We also highlight some of the stories from his book, including how some of his students used an early form of augmentative and alternative communication. 

Also, special guest, Carol Quirk (CEO of MCIE) drops by at the beginning of the episode to reflect on her experiences working in institutions after she read Howard Shane's book Unsilenced.

This episode's transcript can be found here.

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